especially up into manhattan where there's so much flooding and everything that's happened there. this is from upper marlboro just to give you an idea. this is basically the patuxent overflowing its banks here. so there will be areas like this and this is not something that we're going to just be done with today or even tomorrow because there's still a lot of rain happening upstream and that will continue to come down here in our direction and so there will be flood warnings for some of these larger streams and rivers around the area. right here this is current radar picture to show you there's still a few light showers out there. they'll be diminish overnight tonight. i think we'll be a whole lot drier tomorrow and look at super storm sandy. while she's weakened and the winds have died down, the footprint of the storm is still great. most of the northeast right now, all the northeast, being

influenced somehow by sandy and just to give you an idea, the wind gusts have calmed down quite a bit. as a matter of fact, in terms of gusts, we're not really even seeing any here. you go out towards the shore and it has calmed down quite a bit. so now we just deal with the aftermath to clean up and what not from this and it does look like halloween for our kids in the area has not been canceled. >> i know a lot of kids with a lot of costumes and a lot of candy getting ready. >> it's going to be a little chilly, but it's a go. >> we can add layers. that's good news. let's talk about some of the bad news now caused by sandy. power companies all over the region are working overtime right now to restore electricity. dominion virginia has about 60,000 customers without power in northern virginia. pepco has about 7,000 customers. bge is reporting more than 64,000 in montgomery, prince george's, calvert, anne arundel and hour counties in the catch,

smeco has 580 outages, novak 142,000 potomac edison has nearly 49,000 customers still in the dark. a lot of you are praising pepco for its response during the storm and that is a big change for pepco that's often been the target of criticism in restoration responses in the past. at the height of the storm there were 44,000 pepco customers without service. crews were out trimming trees repairing what they could before the winds picked up too much. today pepco says it expects the majority of outages to be restored by tomorrow morning. >> our crews will continue to work around the clock until every customer is restored and that estimated time of restoration is going to be for the vast majority of our customers by 8 a.m. tomorrow morning and we expect full restoration late tomorrow evening. >> pepco brought in crews from across the country ahead of the storm so they would be in place to respond quickly as outages were reported. now we asked you on our facebook page about your power situation, whether you lost it,

who is your provider and how you would rate their performance during the storm. >> brandy chase wrote yes, lost power for four hours, thanks to smeco for restoring us so fast. sarah wrote we only lost power for four hours. dominion hour rocked it. >> ed nitro posted live in upper marlboro, lights flicked once but never lost power. bge is awesome. >> lori wrote novak had us back up in less than 45 minutes. they rock. katie posted i'm in frederick and potomac edison. we lost power overnight for about eight hours. i think it was a pretty ick fix considering the weather conditions outside all night. some people living in somerset county, maryland, were trapped severe flooding. people who live -- trapped by veer flooding. people who live in the area say

it's -- severe flooding. people who live in the area say it's the worst flooding they've seen since hurricane gloria in 1985. fox 5's bob barnard is live with a look in bethesda at how things are bad. >> reporter: not as bad as in other parts of maryland, montgomery county officials saying today they were prepared for the worst sandy would deliver but adding we dodged a bullet. about the worst we've seen is what happened here on glen cove parkway in bethesda. part of a hollowed red maple fell onto a house, another crashing into the car parked out front. this is why so many of us feared what sandy would bring and yet there's a palpable sense of relief at least here in montgomery county. >> we were very lucky. i feel terrible for a lot of people who aren't customers. we know how it feels to be without power. >> reporter: yes, there's a good bit of work still to, do but the damage is not uniformally severe or widespread. these linemen up from mississippi weren't racing from neighborhood to neighborhood. all one of them had to do was flip a switch from the ground to get the lights back on in

one small subdivision near cabin john. >> they must have been doing something right. >> reporter: david hogan is referring to pepco. >> i certainly give them the blame when things don't go right. so give them some credit this time. >> reporter: this is willard avenue in bethesda blocked by a fallen tree that brought down a utility pole, but the lights are still on. one driver forced to turn around was a restoration appraiser. >> most stuff were getting is fairly on the small side at the moment, but it's a mixture. i've not seen everything because i'm only one estimator in the company, but so far it's a lot of little stuff. >> reporter: in all more than four dozen roads in montgomery county were closed due to downed trees or power lines or floodwaters. county officials say we dodged a bullet, but some are still on edge. >> i'm worried the ground is really wet and there are lots of big trees. i'm afraid it will come down and then we'll still be out for five days like we usually are. >> have you come for a treat or for a trick?

>> reporter: and while outdoor halloween decorations got battered by the storm, many like ron kinsey are expecting the holiday tradition to continue. >> kids are ready to trick-or- treat. so i hope it goes on. >> reporter: now one good sign? montgomery county schools closed yesterday and today will reopen tomorrow, will. >> like that neighbor said to you, bob, a lot of little stuff, something we can all be thankful for. we are seeing some incredible images from the district. just look at what sandy did to this northwest d.c. neighborhood. the storm toppled some massive trees and power lines. take a look. this tree on idaho avenue crashed into a house. today the people who lived here returned to survey the damage. >> this gigantic probably 100- year-old tree just came right through attic, bust open the attic door and there's leaves

all over. >> fortunately no one was hurt when the tree crashed through. they got out of the house quickly and stayed in a hotel. in virginia neighbors there cleaning up today, the commonwealth seeing the worst of the power outages in our area, many still dealing with the power out. some people were affected well after dark and even evacuated after dark. fox 5's beth parker is live in annandale with the latest there. >> reporter: if you look behind me, you can see the sign that says sandy is coming. well, she has come and gone and here in fairfax county she's left some work in her wake. from this spot on his roof norm richards has a pretty good view of prosperity avenue, but some of the people who live here may not be feeling all that prosperous today. >> there's water dripping through the living room and just a little drop aspent all t have a new roof put on, so we wouldn't have to deal with leaks. >> reporter: a leaky roof and no electricity here in the pine

ridge neighborhood in fairfax county. with some wood and a blue tarp richards is making a temporary repair. >> nothing to it. >> reporter: not far away we find a spot that might be the cause of that power outage on prosperity, a tree down below, a bucket truck up above. wires hang in the path. randy strock and this tree crew came up from south carolina and they will be working long days. >> probably about 12 hours. >> reporter: this is in annandale, this huge tree in somebody's front yard actually split in half at the bottom. it happened around 7:00 monday night. it tore the driveway right out of the ground. >> one went left and one went to the right. >> no more shade, plenty of sun. >> reporter: that giant oak tree that fell in the neighbor's yard missed clara reynolds' house by inches. >> i'm so relieved. it was a great relief, yeah, especially since it didn't hit

either house. >> reporter: didn't hit a house and didn't hit any passing cars. clara had just dozed off when she heard the enormous crack. >> very frightening. >> reporter: how loud? >> real loud, loud enough you could probably have heard it a couple blocks. >> reporter: she's without power, too but somewhat relieved that this tall tree she fretted about for so many years is now gone. >> well, i'm kind of thankful for sandy because i don't have to worry about the tree anymore. >> reporter: now some people like clara who you saw in our story will be without power for a little while. it's going to take a bit to get that restored, but schools here in fairfax county reopen tomorrow. absentee voting is resuming. so things are beginning to get back to normal. live in annandale i'm beth parker, back into you, shawn. >> thank you. new york city is reeling from the effects of sandy. check out the brooklyn battery tunnel. it is flooded with water levels nearing the top of the 12-foot

8-inch tunnel entrance. the storm surge leaving parts of queens under water. fox's john hody has the latest now from there tonight. >> reporter: i'm john hody in howard beach queens which is just off jamaica bay in the atlantic ocean. this is where hurricane sandy left a path of destruction. behind me i'm standing in parishing lot of the surf side motel and a parking lot of -- a parking lot of the surfside motel. the surge was so strong last night that it actually ripped apart all these docks along thin let at 1 point sending a dock up -- this inlet at one point sending a dock up through the parking lot into a building here. by the way, this motel was destroyed, but you can see the destruction along the inlet, the effect of taking out all the docks ripped apart on both sides of the inlet and throughout the afternoon residents here, victims of this hurricane, have been showing up, looking at the damage, surveying the damage in their

homes. many evacuated yesterday, last night, yesterday afternoon and the day before. this is the first chance they've had to return home and see exactly the damage that hurricane sandy left. the damage has been enormous throughout new york, long island. there are major power outages at this point, several million customers without power and in terms of the clean-up, the national guard is here helping. fema has been in the area. the nypd, fdny, other emergency services have been here, but this clean-up has only just begun. >> wow, just to see the pictures. it's just incredible in that region. >> it makes you thankful that people really did take those evacuation orders seriously because given that kind of damage had people been there, it could have been a much different situation. >> absolutely. still ahead tonight some travelers are wishing they got out of tune a bit sooner. coming up we'll -- town a bit sooner.

coming up we'll show you the impact the storm had on airarea. >> plus we're monitoring metro. the transit system gets back up to speed after shutting down due to sandy. >> and raw sewage discharged into a local river after a plant lewises electricity at the height of the storm -- loses electricity at the height of the storm. we'll have the latest on this situation. >> with the greatest impacts of sandy out of here we're just talking a little light rain and chilly temperatures. we'll have a look at your evening forecast coming up. stay with us. fox 5 news at 5:00 will continue. [ mitt romney ] we have to work on a collaborative basis.

look, the reason i'm in this race is there are people that are really hurting today in this country. and we face this deficit -- could crush the future generations. and republicans and democrats both love america but we need to have leadership -- leadership in washington that will actually bring people together and get the job done and could not care less if it's a republican or a democrat. i've done it before, i'll do it again. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message.

hurricane sandy has certainly whipped up all sorts of trouble for people trying to get in and out of the washington d.c. region, no amtrak or marc service. most flights from our three major airports have all been canceled. fox 5's paul wagner joins us live now from union station with the latest there. >> reporter: the news here at union station is not too good. nothing's moving and based on a conversation i had with a spokesperson for amtrak earlier today, things for tomorrow aren't looking so good either. inside union station this afternoon there was no ambiguity on the message boards. it was crystal clear. riding the rails a day after sandy left town was not to be, a fact that left some stranded passengers a bit miffed. >> i got a voice message from amtrak outside of alexandria, virginia, that i couldn't get home from washington to

chicago. i could have stayed in orlando. >> reporter: that's got to be very frustrating. >> it is frustrating and i'm missing halloween. so i'm un. what. >> reporter: tony murray -- i'm unhappy. >> reporter: and tony murray is not the only one. other passengers have been stranded here since sunday night waiting for word when amtrak will resume service. so you've been here two days with nothing to do. >> two days with nothing to, do walk to the door and see the rain and the wind and come back in and just make friends with people that are going through the same thing that i'm going through. >> reporter: both women said information was scarce. at national airport terminal c was nearly empty with the departure board showing just a few flights taking off this afternoon. most of them were going to warm weather climates. >> we're seeing airlines go back to very limited service today. at dulles international they received their first flight around 11:00 this morning and at national around 1 p.m. . >> reporter: coming in? >> yes. arriving flights. it will take several days for

airlines to return to normal operations. >> reporter: most of the flights coming and going from national were delta airlines flights like the inside of terminal c, the outside empty as well. according to that amtrak spokesperson i mentioned a minute ago, i'm being told that they are going to put out a news release sometime this evening with a list of some limited service, but the problem is the continuing problems that they're having along the northeast corridor and in other areas and that is there's flooding on the tracks. they've got trees on the tracks and they've got power problems. so train service in the next day or so could be very, very troublesome and for these folks that are stranded here they may be here for at least another day. >> just frustrating. paul wagner, thanks for the update. metro is back up and running tonight, but with limited service. trains and buses started

running at 2:00 this afternoon but are operating on a sunday schedule. buses that don't normally run sundays are on their normal weekday schedule. metro access service remains canceled today. the entire metro system is expected to resume normal operations tomorrow morning, something customers are happy to hear about. >> i was getting cabin fever, so it feels good to be able to go out and have a bite to eat and not eat tuna, other canned goods that i bought in preparation for the storm. >> metro does warn that some bus routes could still be affected by flooding and blocked roads. so allow some extra time for your trip. let's talk about the weather as we roll into the evening hours. gary mcgrady, the wind still a little windy in some areas out there, but things seem pretty calm for the most part. >> we haven't had a gust since 9:00 this morning at national. the system as much of a fury as she packed coming ashore yesterday and even before that has really opened up and

weakened. it's still broad and big covering a large footprint with rain and snow, but in terms of the wind intensity, there's still some out there, but a lot of it has really calmed down. we look at a little light rain lingering on and off through the day today. this looks like it will continue the next several hours into the overnight, maybe even lingering for some spots tomorrow morning, but it does look like overnight tonight most of this will get out of here. the concentration of it right now for western sections of montgomery, eastern parts of loudon, there for leesburg, reston, great falls. this is just a little light rain, nothing heavy, nothing that will add to any type of flooding situation. so you don't need to worry about that. temperatures don't downright chilly. we started off -- downright chilly. you add in a little wind. the wind chill value is in the 30s for just about all locations. quantico is 43, leonardtown 41,

annapolis 45 and here in town you can see there 43 degrees. the winds not much, generally below 10 miles per hour which is almost hard to believe, but these things happen. light rain right through the evening hours. just keep the umbrella handy if you're going to be out and an overcoat, too because it's definitely chilly. we'll fall off into the upper 30s, looks like the next few days we're stuck in the 50s, but we will be fairly dry it looks like right on through the weekend. more than 7,000 people downloaded the fox 5 weather app at the height of the storm last night. you can check the weather any time with the app. download it on your droid, i phone or ipad. you can also find it on our website www.myfoxdc.com. m. still ahead help is on the way. in fact, coming up tonight find out what is being do an to assist the states hit hardest -- done to assist the states hit hardest by hurricane sandy. >> plus the governor of new jersey gives a fiery response when asked about sandy's

potential impact on election day. >> if you have a story idea, call the fox 5 tip line, the number 202-895-3000 or send us an e-mail to fox5tips@wttg.com. anncr: which do you believe?

what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

we were told to build a 30-foot stage. gathered the guys and we built that 30-foot stage, not knowing what it was for. just days later, all three shifts were told to assemble in the warehouse. a group of people walked out on that stage and told us that the plant is now closed and all of you are fired... i looked both ways, i looked at the crowd, and...we all just lost our jobs. we don't have an income. mitt romney made over 100 million dollars by shutting down our plant and devastated our lives. turns out that when we built that stage, it was like building my own coffin, and it just made me sick. [ male announcer ] priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

some new jersey residents had to be rescued by boat after super storm sandy. this was the scene at little ferry. a levee breached flooding several neighborhoods in the borough. the national guard helped rescue some of the trapped residents. right now food, supplies and manpower are on to some of the hardest hit states by sandy. >> 8 million people without power, assistance from around the u.s. is needed after the disaster. we have the story from new york with all the details. >> reporter: not only are volunteers heading out to the east coast, but a lot of food is on its way as well. indiana's feed the hungry has a trailer carrying 40,000 pounds of food. it will meet up with two more

trailers and will feed around 3,000 families. >> even though it is miles and miles away, there are grandmothers, grandfathers, moms, dads, children who are really going to be in harm's way and have a tough couple weeks here after this storm passes. >> reporter: electric crews in houston are heading north to help residents deal with the aftermath of hurricane sandy. they're driving to maryland and washington d.c. where they'll provide much needed assistance. the crews are expected to arrive tomorrow and help out an estimated 800,000 without power. they're expected to stay for about two weeks. >> it is rough work. you've seen from ike what we had to go through. we'll be doing 16 hour days easy. >> reporter: more than 6,000 national guard forces from around the nation are helping local first responders and fema with critical tasks such as assistance at evacuation shelters, search and rescue and delivery of essential equipment and supplies. >> nothing that feels better than going out there and being where people need help and

seeing the look on their faces when you rescue them and bring them back to safety. >> reporter: president obama has approved major disaster declarations for new jersey and new york. during a briefing this morning the president expressed concern for those impacted by the storm as well as first responders. the white house says that their top priority is to make sure all available resources are being provided to state and local responders as quickly as possible. coming up tonight a sewage plant loses electricity during the storm sending gallons of raw sewage into a local river. we'll tell you if you live in this area and if you should be worried.  [ mitt romney ] we have to work on a collaborative basis.

look, the reason i'm in this race is there are people that are really hurting today in this country. and we face this deficit -- could crush the future generations. and republicans and democrats both love america but we need to have leadership --

leadership in washington that will actually bring people together and get the job done and could not care less if it's a republican or a democrat. i've done it before, i'll do it again. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. i'm mitt romney, my name is julian bond. i know a little something about fighting for what's right and just. maryland's gay and lesbian families share the same values and they should share in the right to marry. i believe people of faith understand this isn't about any one religious belief. it's about protecting the civil right to make a lifelong commitment to the person you love. join me in supporting question 6. it's the right thing to do.

the sewage treatment system that serves the vast majority of homes in howard county is now back in operation, but tens of millions of gallons of raw consumer discharged into the

little patuxent river before electricity was restored to the plant. tonight county officials are asking some very pointed questions. fox 5's john henrehan is live at the treatment facility. john, i imagine residents have some questions and concerns, too. >> reporter: tha little heated comments today. here are the headlines. the water system was never in jeopardy in howard county. they're entirely separate systems. the water was always safe to drink. the good news is this sewage treatment facility is back in operation. the bad news is up to 25 million gallons of untreated sewage went into the chesapeake bay watershed before this place came back online. officials in howard county call this complex their water reclamation plant because after sewage is treated the water is clean enough to discharge into the little patuxent river. it takes an immense amount of electricity to run this sewage treatment facility, so it's supplied by two different

electrical feeder lines, one underground near the plant and another that comes across the river. during the storm on monday the underground line failed around 8:00 in the evening. then the above ground line was knocked down by falling trees aroun10:40 p.m. the plant does have a large backup generator, but it's designed to keep things going for only 15 to 30 minutes. so for about 12 hours raw sewage was dumped into the river at the rate of approximately 2 million gallons an hour. bge workers arrived here around dawn, far later than county officials expected. >> i made it clear to directly the president of bge two days ago this was our no. 1 priority, made it clear again this morning. unfortunately crews were not dispatched to assess the situation until this morning about 6:30. >> reporter: because of the complicated nature of sewage treatment, it will take days to restore the process here. >> we're moving hydraulically

all the product through plant. getting the plant to perform at 100% will take four or five days because there's a biological process that's pretty upset right now, but we'll get things working better and better as days go on. >> reporter: does that mean some of the stuff still going into the river is untreated still? >> it's treated to probably 95%. we'll probably even make permit. >> reporter: because of the volume of rain dumped into the little patuxent river county officials believe the 25 million-gallon sewage discharge is not a health hazard. they do recommend against wading in the river for the next few days. a bge spokesman told us that trees down cut the power across both feeder lines. he said the underground line has some aerial component to it and a tree hit that aerial component and because of the gusty overnight winds they couldn't safely put utility workers in the air in those bucket trucks. that explanation has dissatisfied the county

executive. he wants an after action report with some kind of plan to minimize the possibility of this happening in the future. that's the latest from howard county. now to virginia, new worries in old town alexandria tonight as floodwaters begin to rise. right now it's a race for business owners to shore up their shops before it's too late. fox 5's maureen umeh is there live with a closer look. >> reporter: folks here really thought they dodged the bullet with hurricane sandy, but things are changing quickly. look behind me. this has all happened in the last 20, 30 minutes, the river slowly creeping up here, businesses scrambling to shore up their businesses. at end of this on thursday it's expected to crest at that 9 mark you see there on the wall. this thing is getting pretty ugly. it's a race against the tide in old town alexandria, business owners scrambling to pack extra sandbags onto doors and windows. >> it's hard to say, but hopefully that will do it. >> reporter: the potomac is still threatening to spill over

putting the area under water. >> it's rough down here close to the river, you know, kind of part of the territory, i guess, being right here. so got to take the good with the bad are you know. >> reporter: city officials say the high tides thursday are expected to be the most challenging as rainwater from the potomac's basin makes its way downriver. volunteers are distributing extra sandbags. gus rapides owns several shops in the area and is not taking any chances. >> unfortunately we don't have enough bags. >> reporter: they're telling you flooding might happen? >> officer is saying high tide till thursday, so i think we got a couple days we'll have to deal with it. >> reporter: most businesses were open bringing a good number of people curious to see the river and what damage was caused. >> so far it looks like it's pretty good, but we're hearing i think thursday is the day the river will crest. that will be really interesting to see if union street survives thursday. >> reporter: this was about as bad as that damage got, the large tree that came down

partially onto this house. its owner is away and neighbors say they expected the tree would be no match for sandy's wind. >> the tree has been leaning that way for some time. last night it just came down, very slowly. he was lucky. >> reporter: old town alexandria dodging sandy's wrath but maybe not for long. >> we'll deal with it again. we always do. >> reporter: folks here are used to that floodwater, but look at it now. this is in the last couple minutes. the floodwater is rising by the minute. expect it to crest at 9:00 tonight. when it's all said and done by thursday cresting at that 9 mark. so again folks here thinking they dodged sandy's bullet, but they are prepared, so hoping for the best. that is the latest from here in old town alexandria, maureen umeh, fox 5 news. >> i think you said it. people are scrambling, but they're certainly used to it in old town. thank you. >> if is interesting to see the contrast -- it is interesting to see the contrast because yesterday when we were on the air in the midst of the storm there was no water there and today the tide has come in.

>> we'll be looking at that area tonight again, high tide at 9:00 where things could really shift for the worse out there. as we continue tonight, wall street gets back to business. >> plus the numbers are in, details on sandy's massive economic impact coming your way next. >> gas prices could rise in the wake of the storm, but there is some good news to report for now, the details when we come back. [ minto ] you know, those ads saying mitt romney would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it.

turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney my name is julian bond. i know a little something about fighting for what's right and just. maryland's gay and lesbian families share the same values and they should share in the right to marry. i believe people of faith understand this isn't about any one religious belief. it's about protecting the civil right to make a lifelong commitment to the person you love. join me in supporting question 6. it's the right thing to do.

the new york stock exchange will reopen tomorrow for regular trading. the system shut down two days because of the storm. the exchange says the building and trading floor are fully operational. this is the first time in more than 120 years the exchange has been closed two straight days because of the weather. damage estimates from the storm could add up to nearly $20 billion just for property loss and another 30 billion in lost business. the numbers are from ihs global

insight, an economic forecasting firm. in the short term economic growth could take a .5% hit because of damage from the storm, but in the long run it won't make much difference. gas prices are down. analysts say prices are still falling after sandy left flooding, power outages and disrupted transportation in the eastern u.s. the national average for a gavel regular fell by about a penny today to 3. -- gallon of regular fell by about a penny today to 3.53 which is about 11 cents lower than a week ago. the jersey shore may never look the same again. coming up a live report as residents in coastal communities survey the damage that sandy left behind. >> plus he says he has bigger things to worry about. wait till you hear the response from this man, the governor of new jersey, to a question about election day. >> and we are not out of the woods just yet. gary is back with your forecast.

[ mitt romney ] we have to work on a collaborative basis. look, the reason i'm in this race is there are people that are really hurting today in this country. and we face this deficit -- could crush the future generations. and republicans and democrats both love america but we need to have leadership -- leadership in washington that will actually bring people together and get the job done and could not care less if it's a republican or a democrat. i've done it before, i'll do it again. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message.

what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? i'm mitt romney, or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say.

we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

our coverage of super storm sandy continues now here on fox 5 news at 5:00. a trip to the jersey shore may not be the same for years. sandy wrecked boardwalks and piers up and down the coast. this is video taken by the national guard today showing buildings in seaside heights still smoldering from fires and others partially under water. fox's craig boswell is live in new jersey tonight on the edge of atlantic city. we understand you can't even get in there. >> reporter: no. roads are still closed here. the police just turned away another family trying to drive in and get a look at their home they haven't been to now for a couple days, this road into atlantic city -- all the roads into atlantic city will be closed this evening.

we're told they'll likely open up tomorrow. about 80,000 people just in this area alone without power, 2.5 million statewide without power and we are heading into a very cold evening tonight, the effects of sandy still continuing. >> the level of devastation at jersey shore is unthinkable. >> reporter: authorities are blocking the path into atlantic city where portions of the world's famous boardwalk were washed away and debris litters most streets. boats were also tossed about. >> all you can see is a lot of water. >> reporter: but sandy's wrath extends well beyond the jersey shore on new york city's staten island a huge tanker crashed ashore. sandy caused a massive fire in queens wiping out dozens of homes in breezy point. there's extensive damage and flooding in maryland where dozens needed rescued from floodwaters. the storm reached into the midwest with officials warning people to stay away from lake michigan where waves are expected to reach 24 feet. >> we don't recommend going

onto the lake. stay clear of beaches until the all clear has been given. >> reporter: and in west virginia blizzard conditions brought on by the edge of the storm blanketing some portions of the area with more than 2 feet of snow causing dangerous conditions there. >> we still have this wind and it is blowing snow in some areas and that presents a problem with the drifting on the road. >> reporter: you heard governor christie at the top of that piece. we'll be hearing from the governor again in an hour and a half updating us on the damage statewide in new jersey. he'll also be touring the damage tomorrow afternoon with president obama. >> certainly sounds like a long road to recovery. thank you. speaking of new jersey's governor chris christie calls the damage to his state's coastline unthinkable. he says it will likely takes months to recover. the state's top priority now is rescuing people stranded in those barrier islands. when asked if gop presidential candidate mitt romney would

visit the state, christie made it clear politics are not his priority. >> i'm sure while the national election is obviously very important that the people of new jersey at this moment would really be unhappy with me if they thought for a second i was occupying my time thinking about how i was going to get people to vote a week from today. so i don't give a damn about election day. it doesn't matter a lick to me at the moment. i've got much bigger fish to fry than that. so do the people in the state of new jersey. so let the politicians who are on the ballot worry about election day. it's not my problem. i'm not dealing with it at the moment. >> the governor, however, did praise president obama for his handling of the storm. now that sandy is gone, we want to look back and sort of reflect on what happened in this unprecedented storm. gary mcgrady and sue palka join us today. guys, we expected so much more and not that it wasn't bad in our area, but i guess a lot of people are asking why wasn't it worse? >> christie doesn't hold back, so you don't either, right?

>> you know what i always think about when we talk about events that are going to happen in the future, that we set up the scenario which in my opinion with the exception of massive pepco power outages everything happened that we said. what did not happen is those power outages. so we need to be really grateful when we see what's going on in new jersey and up toward new york city, but i think you get a picture in your head of what is going to happen. it's like when you read a book and see the movie and you're like that is not aas the book. >> the flooding in new york city. >> over, my gosh and guess. what this is what we thought would happen and then you see the pictures and you're still shocked. i think we had an expectation. everything that we forecast did happen, but we can't plan what happens with power outages. gary has a great theory about why we didn't see more trees falling yesterday. we're grateful they didn't. >> it had something to do with that derecho you were talking about, right, gary? >> i think the weaker trees had already been taken down by not

only the derecho, but the other thunderstorms we had this past summer and think about how much work pepco had to do taking down trees that were already down, plus they put up hundreds upon hundreds of brand-new power lines and poles. so we've already refortified the infrastructure there, in some case says -- cases we have and we saw last night some places that were influenced by the derecho were having more power outages than those addressed by pepco. last night it was creepy to be on the beltway at 1 a.m. by yourself. >> i saw two cars on the way home. >> hold on one second. thank you to miss kim, my neighbor, who brought over a hurricane cake for my family. it was wonderful and my other buddy jason brought over some from his supply of d batteries in case we needed them. >> we need to give a shout out to you guys because you were

great. thank you so much for the coverage and keeping us all safe last night and all the viewers out there. thank you for sending pictures and tweeting. >> do you want to thank the coffeemaker downstairs? >> will gave me some antacids yesterday. >> tmi, folks. we're going to start right along here. >> my biggest feeling today, let's be grateful because it's going to be a long haul for them. >> this is where it gets serious for us, too, pause these are pictures from nap -- because these are pictures from annapolis and we'll also have some pictures showing problems potentially around alexandria as well and then in georgetown from the potomac coming up. these were all the pictures everybody was scratching their head yesterday saying why isn't this happening? well, the winds were coming from the northwest yesterday, so it was mostly pushing the water away even at high tide, but now we find as we talked about yesterday how the winds would go to the west and southwest it would start pushing the water back up the bay and start pushing the water

back up the river and at high tide we were going to have moderate flooding. so that's exactly what is happening now. coastal flood warning is in place for the potomac and for at least most of the western side of the bay here. a few of the eastern communities farther down to the south, too and this will run until 2 p.m. friday. so at least the next few days with the high tides we could have some moderate flooding and again it looks like this will last through friday p.m. in terms of where we have some high tide values, washington channel tonight's high tide is after 9:00 and for alexandria high tide is about 9:37 p.m. we're expecting the water levels to be 3 to fewer feet above normal which we know -- 4 feet above normal which we know will cause some moderate flooding. we'll keep an eye on that. this evening just light rain, cold temperatures. it's going to be raw with temperatures falling down into the lower 40s.

here we are now in town 43 degrees. the temperature has been stuck on 43 degrees for the last several hours, colder for pittsburgh at 40, columbus 37 and then back up into the midwest temperatures there in the 40s as well. again look at the footprint of what is now -- well, storm sandy, whatever you want to call it. it basically traveled right into the northeast. it got sucked into this huge trough of low pressure. so now from south carolina all the way up to maine and provinces there of canada and then all the way up to the north around toronto, the u.p. of michigan and all the way out into lake michigan again what seems to be one of the more incredible things with this storm was the wind coming around the backside of the storm and forcing all those waves in lake michigan, some 20 to 25 feet crashing onshore there on the western side of lake michigan. that's just incredible. we continue with a little light rain here, snow continuing to pile up back out west of us,

some locations for west virginia already receiving as much as 1 and a half to 2 feet and it continues to snow and probably will. very light rain for us now that will continue through the evening hours. jet stream will continue to take a big dip in place the next several days. that will keep us slightly unsettled. i think by tomorrow and tomorrow evening the rain will be gone. halloween is just going to be a little chilly but dry, not a lot of sunshine tomorrow and as we get into thursday, finally this big storm and trough will start to lift out. that's when i think things will get a little better around here. tonight 39 degrees. so chilly out there. we'll continue with a few light showers, winds out of the southwest 10 to 15 miles per hour. i'm going to keep in at least a chance of a spotty shower tomorrow morning, 41, mostly clouds at noon, 51 and mostly clouds at 5:00 and watch out for all the ghosts and ghouls and goblins tomorrow evening because kids will be raring to go. seems like the most fun

holiday, if you want to call it a holiday, of the year here. so it will be real nice and no need to worry about costumes tomorrow evening that includes an umbrella. >> that's good news. >> just got to layer tomorrow. >> that's right. let's check in now with brian for a look at what's coming up next on the news edge at 6:00. >> pitching in after sandy, assistance from around the country floods the northeast, pun intended supposedly. >> then getting around after the storm, the high winds and heavy rain gone. when will stranded travelers get to their destinations? >> plus hurricane sandy puts the presidential campaign on hold, how the storm could affect early voting. see you at 6:00.  [ earnest ] out of the blue one day,

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it was like building my own coffin, and it just made me sick. [ male announcer ] priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. look, the reason i'm in this race is there are people that are really hurting today in this country. and we face this deficit -- could crush the future generations. and republicans and democrats both love america but we need to have leadership -- leadership in washington that will actually bring people together and get the job done and could not care less if it's a republican or a democrat. i've done it before, i'll do it again. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. this is fox 5 news edge. even though mammograms save lives they also lead town

necessary treatment is the conclusion of an -- to unnecessary treatment is the conclusion of some doctors in london meaning some women are treated overaggressively than necessary for a type of cancer that grows too slowly to threaten their lives this. study applies to women over 50. it may not be as easy to tell if a infant has autism as earlier thought. the development of 6-month-old babies diagnosed as autism when they become toddlers is very similar to children without the disorder. the study sheds doubt on the notion cases spotted early are more severe. and children whose mothers were overweight and smoked during pregnancy may be at an increased risk of being overweight themselves. researchers reviewed 30 studies involving more than 200,000 people and found by itself smoking during pregnancy increased a child's risk of being overweight by nearly 48%. on the flip side they found breastfeeding helped reduce the chances of a child being

overweight. thanks so much for joining us tonight at 5:00. >> now it's time. the news edge at 6:00 starts right now. >> this is fox 5 news edge at 6:00. right off the top on the news edge super storm sandy's wrath, deaths, flooding and outages, the storm being blamed for more than 30 deaths in the united states, two in maryland, one in west virginia, 8.2 million homes and businesses still without power, a major disaster declaration declared in new york and long island. d.c. got lucky when you compare it to other areas. the city fared well during sandy. as the weather cleared mayor gray took a tour of the damage. matt ackland was with him and joins us now from northwest. >> reporter: there's a lot of clean-up taking place here in the district throughout the city. we're here in upper northwest just off wisconsin avenue. look over my shoulder. you c